Comments on: A great rise... a modest fall.

A great rise... a modest fall.

hypocritical ross — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:46:12 -0800

Donald Trump discusses the major thematic elements of Citizen Kane. Featured in the awesome new... err... issue?... of Wholphin.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:56:14 -0800

Interesting, especially for the last words out of his mouth.

By: the painkiller

the painkiller — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:59:48 -0800

brainexploder indeed. i get a real kick out of his hypothetical advice to CFK at the end. fun find, thanks!

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:00:01 -0800

Interesting, especially for the last words out of his mouth. Agreed. Primarily because that's not at all the takeaway of the movie. Kane's failure with women is a symptom of his problems, not the cause. The cause is his aborted childhood.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:06:13 -0800

Erroll Morris is one of the most important directors ever.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:14:03 -0800

pardonyou? writes "Agreed. Primarily because that's not at all the takeaway of the movie. Kane's failure with women is a symptom of his problems, not the cause. The cause is his aborted childhood." Give Trump some credit, though... That "advice" was mostly tongue-in-cheek (notice Trump's sly little smile); when he summarized the central theme of the movie, he came to much the same conclusion as you did: "...bringing a lonely, rather sad figure, back into his childhood."

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:33:44 -0800

That "advice" was mostly tongue-in-cheek... You have to wonder whether there's really anything else but the tounge, and the cheek. I.e., whether Trump is really capable of anything deeper than irony. As for 'the takeaway' -- I don't see it as 'aborted childhood', per se, so much as that his mother rejects him. Sure, she sends him to a "better home", but she's not in it. It's like taking the infant monkey away from its mother and putting it in a cage with a carpet-covered robot. He'll be better off than the one who has to cuddle with chicken wire, but he'll still be a pretty messed up monkey.

By: footballrabi

footballrabi — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:41:54 -0800

That was weird and a little sad. Especially where he refelects on wealth isolating people from each other. 'You have your guard up.' Good stuff. Thanks.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:08:02 -0800

I don't see it as 'aborted childhood', per se, so much as that his mother rejects him Well, I view the latter as a subset of the former. Certainly that was a big part, but it was also the fact that one day he was playing in the snow, and the next he was living in a mansion.

By: willnot

willnot — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:11:53 -0800

I don't see it as 'aborted childhood', per se, so much as that his mother rejects him. But his final thought is not of his mother. It's of playing out in the snow which was his last act of childhood before they sent him away. You might be on the right track if the women in his life seemed to be an attempt to find a mother figure, but he acts more like a controlling father than as a submissive child around them. They're just one more thing to collect and own.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:19:34 -0800

Well, that's a conventional, sort of Freudian reading: if you're deprived of a nurturing mother, you seek nurturing mothers. I don't think it usually plays out that way. I think more often you get someone who's emotionally distant and yet continually requires approval from others, like Kane.

By: underer

underer — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:58:12 -0800

Trump's reading of the film is a little bizarre. I think he attempts to read Kane as a self-made man, which, as far as Kane's wealth is concerned, isn't true. Trump's summary of the story as a great rise and a modest fall isn't how I remember the movie at all. Sure, Kane was born in poverty, but he was raised with money. And the movie, which isn't at all modest, is concerned with his fall. It's pretty funny to watch somebody bullshit, especially a professional bullshitter like Trump. But extra-especially with Errol Morris filming, leaving those seconds of silence where the subject starts squirming. Cool link.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:13:10 -0800

Having had a lonely and rather sad childhood, can someone direct to any links that might get me incalculable wealth? And not just trumped up figures?

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:53:09 -0800

Wait, so Citizen Kane isn't all positive? "We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are." Wealth doesn't isolate you; you isolate you.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:44:06 -0800

Interesting to see a pathological narcissist, megalomaniac, Trump, interpret the life of another megalomaniac, Kane, as a victim of wealth. Typical alloplastic defense of Trump to think the solution is another acquisition, another woman, rather than introspection, which he is incapable of utilising in underatanding himself or others. The perennially smug look on his face is particularly repellent, framed by the classically awful nutso combover.

By: spiderwire

spiderwire — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:13:20 -0800

Man, another Wholphin post? We just did the Al Gore documentary the other day. Rather than just posting it bit by bit, go subscribe to it, folks. McSweeney's is putting out these collections of short films regularly, and the first two have been fucking awesome. These are definitely some films that you want to watch on DVD. Trust me.

By: spiderwire

spiderwire — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:19:06 -0800

Oh, and they have a clip of The Pity Card up on the front page! Too bad they cut it right before a great punchline -- "I just... why don't more people know about this?" Watch it and you'll see.

By: furtive

furtive — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:14:17 -0800

Previously. Great find BTW.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:53:02 -0800

"You have your guard up" *excerpt: Kane impotent rage, trying to demolish the shelves* "get yourself a different woman" In what way is Trump not a self-parody?

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 00:19:14 -0800

Woah woah woah.... movie goers AND movie watchers?

By: lodurr

lodurr — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 06:38:06 -0800

I can't pretend I really understand of lot of what Morris is trying to do in his films (particular Fast, Cheap and Out of Control), but that's part of the beauty of it: He's trying to do somethign, and trying to figure out what it is, usually leads to some interesting places. Fog of War is a brilliant exemplar of the method; this project, I think, would be harder to swallow, but worth finishing.

By: sexymofo

sexymofo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 09:49:51 -0800

Erroll Morris is one of the most important directors ever. And if you didn't know this already, he would tell you.